diff --git a/gui/builtinShipBrowser/navigationPanel.py b/gui/builtinShipBrowser/navigationPanel.py
index fe0051144..bbded1f8f 100644
--- a/gui/builtinShipBrowser/navigationPanel.py
+++ b/gui/builtinShipBrowser/navigationPanel.py
@@ -8,10 +8,12 @@ import gui.mainFrame
 import gui.utils.color as colorUtils
 import gui.utils.draw as drawUtils
 import gui.utils.fonts as fonts
-from .events import FitSelected, SearchSelected, ImportSelected, Stage1Selected, Stage2Selected, Stage3Selected
 from gui.bitmap_loader import BitmapLoader
-from service.fit import Fit
 from gui.utils.helpers_wxPython import HandleCtrlBackspace
+from service.fit import Fit
+from utils.cjk import isStringCjk
+from .events import FitSelected, SearchSelected, ImportSelected, Stage1Selected, Stage2Selected, Stage3Selected
+
 
 pyfalog = Logger(__name__)
 
@@ -86,7 +88,8 @@ class NavigationPanel(SFItem.SFBrowserItem):
         search = self.BrowserSearchBox.GetValue()
         # Make sure we do not count wildcard as search symbol
         realsearch = search.replace("*", "")
-        if len(realsearch) >= 3:
+        minChars = 1 if isStringCjk(realsearch) else 3
+        if len(realsearch) >= minChars:
             self.lastSearch = search
             wx.PostEvent(self.shipBrowser, SearchSelected(text=search, back=False))
 
diff --git a/utils/cjk.py b/utils/cjk.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a3dc4384
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/cjk.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+def isCharCjk(char):
+    # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1366068/whats-the-complete-range-for-chinese-characters-in-unicode
+    ranges = (
+        ('\u4e00', '\u9fff'),
+        ('\u3400', '\u4dbf'),
+        ('\u20000', '\u2a6df'),
+        ('\u2a700', '\u2b73f'),
+        ('\u2b740', '\u2b81f'),
+        ('\u2b820', '\u2ceaf'),
+        ('\uf900', '\ufaff'),
+        ('\u2f800', '\u2fa1f'),
+        ('\uac00', '\ud7af'))
+    for low, high in ranges:
+        if low <= char <= high:
+            return True
+    return False
+
+
+def isStringCjk(string):
+    for char in string:
+        if isCharCjk(char):
+            return True
+    return False